Shulou(Shulou.com)06/01 Report--

This article introduces the relevant knowledge of "how to use FreeDOS". In the operation of actual cases, many people will encounter such a dilemma, so let the editor lead you to learn how to deal with these situations. I hope you can read it carefully and be able to achieve something!

FreeDOS is an old operating system, but for many people it is new. In 1994, I and several developers created FreeDOS, a complete, free, DOS-compatible operating system that can be used to play classic DOS games, run older commercial software, or develop embedded systems. Any program running on MS-DOS should also run on FreeDOS.

New users often ask, "I've installed FreeDOS, but how do I use it?" . If you haven't used DOS before, the flashing C: > DOS prompt can look a little unfriendly and may be a little scary. This brief introduction to FreeDOS will get you started. It only provides the basics: how to browse and how to view files.

DOS prompt

First, let's take a look at the empty prompt and what it means.

DOS is a "disk operating system" created when a personal computer is running from a floppy disk. Even when computers supported hard drives, it was common to switch frequently between different drives in the 1980s and 1990s. For example, you may want to back up a copy of all the most important files to a floppy disk.

DOS uses a letter to refer to each drive. Early computers had only two floppy drives, and they were assigned A: and B: drive letters. The first partition letter on the hard disk is C:, and then the other letters are assigned in turn. The C: in the prompt indicates that you are using the first partition of the first hard drive.

Since PC-DOS 2.0 in 1983, DOS also supports directories and subdirectories, which are very similar to directories and subdirectories in the Linux file system. But unlike Linux, DOS directory names are separated by\ instead of /. Combine this with the drive letter, and the C:\ in the prompt indicates that you are at the top of the C: disk or in the "root" directory.

The > symbol is where you are prompted to enter the DOS command, just like the $for many Linux shell. The previous section tells you the current working directory, and then you enter the command at the > prompt.

Find out how you use it in DOS

The basic way to browse directories in DOS is very similar to the steps you did on the Linux command line. You only need to remember a few orders.

Show a directory

Use the DIR command when you want to see the contents of the current directory. Because the DOS command is case-insensitive, you can also type dir. By default, DOS displays the details of each file and subdirectory, including the name, extension type, size, and date and time of the last change.

If you don't want to show extra details about individual file sizes, you can use the / w option in the DIR command to display a "wide" list of directories. Note that Linux users use hyphens (-) or double hyphens (-) to start command-line options, while DOS uses slash characters (/).

You can view it by passing the pathname of a specific subdirectory as an argument to the DIR command. In addition, another difference from Linux systems is that Linux files and directories are case-sensitive, while names under DOS are case-insensitive. DOS usually displays files and directories in all uppercase, but you can use them equally in lowercase.

Switch the current working directory

Once you can view the contents of one directory, you can "move" to any other directory. On DOS, use the CHDIR command to switch the working directory, or abbreviated to CD. You can use a command like CD CHOICE to go to a subdirectory or use CD\ FDOS\ DOC\ CHOICE to enter a new path.

Just like on the Linux command line, DOS uses. To represent the current directory, and.. Represents the parent directory (one level above the current directory). You can use these together. For example, CD.. Go to the parent directory and CD... . Two "up" directory level operations are performed by the current directory.

FreeDOS also borrows some features from Linux: you can use CD-to jump back to your previous working directory. This is convenient when you want to go back to your previous state of work after you have entered a new path to do something.

Toggle the current work disk record

Under Linux, the concept of "disk" is hidden. In Linux and other Unix systems, you "mount" the disk to a directory, such as / backup, or the system automatically does it for you, such as / var/run/media/user/flashdrive. But DOS is a relatively simple system. With DOS, you have to change the working disk yourself.

Remember that DOS allocates the first partition of the first hard disk to C: disk, and then assigns other drive letters in turn. In modern systems, it is rare for people to split a hard disk into multiple DOS partitions; they simply use the entire disk or allocate as many DOS as possible. Now C: is usually the first hard drive, while D: is usually another hard drive or CD-ROM drive. Other network disk drives can also be mapped to other drive letters, such as E: or Z:, or whatever organization you want.

It is easy to switch disks under DOS. Just enter a drive letter on the command line followed by a colon (:), and DOS will switch to the working disk. For example, on my QEMU system, I set D: to a shared directory under my Linux home directory, where the installation files for various DOS applications and games I want to test are stored.

Be careful not to try to switch to a disk that does not exist. DOS may set it to the working disk, but if you try to do anything there, you will encounter the slightly infamous "quit, retry, fail" DOS error message.

Other things you can try.

With the CD and DIR commands, you have the basic ability to browse DOS. These commands allow you to look in the DOS directory and see if other subdirectories and files exist. Once you are familiar with basic browsing operations, you can also try these other basic DOS commands:

MKDIR or MD create a new directory RMDIR or RD delete directory TREE display directory and subdirectory list TYPE and MORE display file contents RENAME or REN rename file DEL or ERASE delete file EDIT edit file CLS clear screen

If that's not enough, you can find a list of all DOS commands on the FreeDOS wiki.

Under FreeDOS, you can use /? for each command. Parameter to get a brief description. For example, EDIT /? Will tell you the usage and options of the editor. Or you can type HELP to use the interactive help system.

Like any DOS, FreeDOS is considered a simple operating system. You can easily browse the DOS file system with just a few basic commands. So, start a QEMU session, install FreeDOS, and then try the DOS command line interface. Maybe it doesn't look so scary now.

That's all for the content of "how to use FreeDOS". Thank you for reading. If you want to know more about the industry, you can follow the website, the editor will output more high-quality practical articles for you!

Welcome to subscribe "Shulou Technology Information " to get latest news, interesting things and hot topics in the IT industry, and controls the hottest and latest Internet news, technology news and IT industry trends.